Posts tagged Poverty

Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.  –  Matthew 25:34

This vision of the kingdom of God reveals an interesting perspective into the identification of the face of God.  The scenario is that of the eschatological Christ presented as victor and King.  Yet the ones who belong to the kingdom of the Victor are not warriors and statesmen, nor kings and rulers–rather, it is the sick, the impoverished and the oppressed.  Yet these are not simply citizens of God's eschatological kingdom by proxy, but are more audaciously the ones with whom God in Christ self-identifies.  It is in their faces and lives that God dwells most vividly.

It is often said that God is no respector of persons; and in ways this is probably true.  However, the eschatological Christ reveals that the More >